1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to relates to cooperate task execution in instrumented roadway systems, and more specifically, to methods and a system for using a crowdsourcing model to obtain and relay information from roadway sensors.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, road management devices and equipment are maintained by preventive maintenance schedules or when they are reported to be malfunctioning or broken. Preventative roadway maintenance is expensive and inefficient. Reactive roadway maintenance is both inefficient and time consuming.
A known method to detect road debris and potholes is using shock or bump sensors in road maintenance vehicles. The sensors require physical impact with a roadway device to determine if there is a pothole and if there is a need to report back to a central authority. For this method road maintenance vehicles patrol to collect and transmit road conditions encountered. This method is inefficient because it requires a large work crew and is costly. The present invention does not implement this technique or technology.
Often when using a vehicle to collect road information, the vehicle is outfitted with sensors that collect data using acoustic surface waves, ground penetrating radar, mm wave surface radar, or video images. The vehicle does not actually collect information from any sensors in the roadway.
In recent years roadway systems have become more intelligent by utilizing imbedded smart sensor technologies. However, there are still needs to monitor the systems more efficiently and provide accurate up-to-date communications concerning the health of road sensors. Vast roadway systems have increased the cost of connecting the road management sensors with a central monitoring command. Therefore, for current control systems and methods there is a need to become more efficient. Current methods must overcome the needs and costs related to connecting or networking the devices in order to produce a cost effective, smart sensor system that is widely distributed and able to provide near real-time communication.
Additionally, roadway systems require tremendous amounts of roadway monitoring sensors and internet connected devices in order to interact with the environment and to be part of a smarter planet. One of the challenges with current roadway monitoring sensors is that they malfunction. In order for a roadway maintenance crew to know that a sensor is malfunctioning, the roadway maintenance crew needs to either give the sensors internet connectivity or put in place frequent physical auditing requiring maintenance workers to patrol and test the sensors. Concerning both options, neither solution is realistic. To connect each sensor (or a collection of them) to the internet requires a large supported infrastructure. It also requires assignment of IP addresses, which will eventually run out. Having physical audits requires a large work crew and is expensive.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the method of uniquely identifying items using radio waves. An RFID system includes at a minimum a tag, a reader, and an antenna. The reader emits a signal to the tag by way of the antenna. The antenna is usually attached to the tag. The tag responds and sends a signal to the reader. Active RFID tags require a transponder having its own power source. While active RFID tags are able to transmit great distances, the cost of providing a power source is expensive. A passive RFID tag does not require its own power source. A passive RFID tag is powered by electromagnetic energy that is transmitted from the RFID reader. Unlike active RFID tags, passive RFID tags are not able to transmit over large distances. Generally, a passive RFID tag will operate at one of three frequency ranges, low, high, and ultra high.
Near-field communication (NFC) devices are a type of RFID that operates at the high frequency range. NFC is designed to be a secure form of data exchange, which is why NFC is typically used with smartphone technology. Some NFC devices are able to read passive RFID tags.
Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people rather than company workers or suppliers. Crowdsourcing divides labor or a task among a large group of civilian volunteers and combines the efforts to produce a result. Crowdsourcing is most often used with online communities.